I wrote the Inside Wall Street column at Business Week Magazine for 28 years, through December 30, 2009. It was one of the most influential market columns as it moved stocks that I highlighted each week. BW had a yearly ScoreCard Report that tracked the performance of the stocks I mentioned, and the results confirmed their positive impact..I also wrote two books: “<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Secrets-Street-Dark-Making-Money/dp/0070402566"Secrets of the Street, the Dark Side of Making Money,” published by McGraw-Hill in 1995, and “Gene Marcial’s Seven Commandments of Stock Investing,” published by FT Press in 2008. I resumed writing the “Inside Wall Street” column for AOL DailyFinance after Bloomberg acquired BW in December 2009. Subsequently, I moved the column to MSN.com after AOL merged with the Huffington Post. I then started writing for Forbes.com with a new column, “Street Beat,” in mid-April 2011, where I expect my readers will follow me.

U.S. May Be On Verge Of A Big Comeback With A Double Back-To-Back Economic Recovery

For the first time, a highly respected and reputable economist with a huge impressive Wall Street following is suggesting that President Barack Obama could win reelection as he lays out well-grounded arguments that a “double back-to-back” economic recovery is within sight.

Dr. Ed Yardeni, president and chief investment strategist of Yardeni Research Inc., which has a large following among U.S. and global institutional investors, says the U.S. economy may be “on the verge of a huge comeback” and could “experience an ununsual second recovery over the next three years, following the weak initial recovery of the past three years.”

Lets’s be very clear, though. Yardeni, a conservative economist with a pragmatic approach to analyzing and interpreting the U.S. economy and what’s going on in the global economic picture, isn’t forecasting an Obama victory. Rather, he is pointing out, in his daily online newsletter for clients this morning, that several signposts strongly suggest that a second economic recovery may be on its way, for which the President could take all the credit for, and which would then turn the November elections his way.

True, the naysayers have been predicting a “double-dip recession” for the economy since the recession started in 2009. “I am suggesting that a more likely scenario might be a double back-to-back economic recovery,” says Yardeni.

The noted economist and investment adviser points out that in a second economic recovery, “President Obama is more likely to win a second term.” That’s because the unemployment rate is likely to fall in such a scenario, consumer confidence will brighten up, and stock prices will move higher – “and President Obama could take credit for it all — and he would win if enough voters give it to him,” argues Yardeni.

He underscores the facts that have been evident all along: The economy lost lots of jobs, and so far employment recovery has been anemic, with payrolls still 6.1 million below the record high set in January 2008. The housing situation has been in a depression, with the national single-family existing home median price down 28.9% since it peaked during July 2006, and home foreclosures are in the millions. The upturn in auto sales has been subpar and fiscal policy hasn’t been as stimulative as in past recoveries because there has been lots of fiscal drag from state and local governments. In the past, recessions were followed by one, not two, recoveries.

Indeed, the key sectors of the economy haven’t participated in the initial rebound.

“But finally we may be on the verge of doing so,” says Yardeni. Indeed, real GDP is up 5.5% from the recession trough during the second quarter of 2009 through the third quarter of 2011, to a record high of $13.3 trillion, Yardeni points out.

“The second recovery could take off as the pace of hiring quickens, housing activity finally picks up, auto sales head higher, and state and local governments stop retrenching,” says Yardeni. ”If so, then the U.S. would finally enjoy the benefits of a broader-based recovery,” he adds.

What about Europe and the impact of its problems on the U.S. economy? Here is what Yardeni says: “It could trip up America’s recovery, or maybe not.” While a depression in Europe might depress the U.S. economy and S&P corporate profits, there is another side to this story: “Better-than-expected growth in the U.S. should help Europe’s recession,” argues Yardeni.

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I think the U.S. economy is more likely to get better than not. Europe might be unpredictable. But Asia will offer a lot of opportunities. The fast changing scenario in Asia, especially in the South Asia-Asia Pacific region will work in America’s favor. Also, as Asian and global investors’ confidence on the U.S. grows, they will find safe havens in the U.S. dollar and U.S. Treasuries.

Economist Yardeni definitely has strong points to substantiate his projection.